The Five Below Ground
by MikkiOfTheAnbu
Summary: After he is kidnapped by a strange and extremely frightening man, the basement of a house becomes Luffy's new home. His family searches, but fails to find him, and slowly, they, along with the police, give up hope. When others begin arriving in this underground hell, will they, along with Luffy, manage to escape? Or will they meet their fate without ever being free again? AU.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: Taken **

I remember the air being extremely cold the day I disappeared from the world of light. I remember the sound of church bells chiming, and the prick of icy fear as it trailed up my spine in violent shivers. It was snowing, and I let the powdery crystals catch on my bare hands and face, melting where they landed. I was smiling. My brothers were smiling. It was a wonderful memory.

And then I remember being taken.

A pair of large, strong hands grabbed me from behind suddenly, wrapping around my waist and mouth and pulling me away from my brothers. The two of them were a little ways away from me, throwing snowballs and insults at each other and completely forgetting about my existence. The instant I was touched, I stiffened. I tried to scream, to yell to my brothers that I was in trouble, but thick fingers blocked any air from entering or exiting my lips and nose and I couldn't speak. My heart began to pound in my chest. The three of us, Ace, Sabo, and I, had been playing in our school's front yard, just across from the track. As the thick snow fell, and I was dragged further and further away, I slowly lost sight of them, and this scared me. What was happening?

After what seemed like an eternity, I was at last shoved to the ground. I landed on my backside, and looking around frantically, discovered that I had been drawn back behind the P.E shed and tossed into the space between the fence and the wall. I scraped my elbow and it stung.

Above me hovered a dark shape. It was a man, a tall, heavy-set man who appeared to be in his late thirties. He wore a long black coat with matching boots and gloves, and had short, scraggily black facial hair. He loomed over me like a great shadow, intimidating, threatening. I felt my eyes widen in fear. Our gazes met, and instantly I felt the urge to get up and _run. _Something about this man screamed danger, his eyes flickered in an almost sinister manner, and a crazed, gap-toothed smile haunted his lips. I scrambled to get up. I backed away from the man until my shoulders hit the frozen fence. My whole body was trembling now, and I tried desperately to get my voice to work, to get my lips to form a cry for help. They wouldn't, no matter how hard I begged them to.

I was completely paralyzed, my arms and legs also failing to cooperate with me, and as I stood there I was reduced to nothing more than a thin, jittery mess.

In front of me, the man laughed. "Hey now, kid," he said, his voice low and menacing. "What's with the look of terror? I ain't gonna hurt you. Uncle Teach here is just going to take you away for a little while." His smile widened and I felt my insides squirm.

"Wh-what do you want with me?" I finally forced out in a frightened whisper. The man laughed again, throwing his head back and cackling like a hyena. He took a step forward and I flattened myself against the fence. Carefully, he stuck out his hand and placed it gently on my cheek, his touch sending chills through my whole body. He rubbed the cold flesh with his thumb and I began to shake even harder.

"Like I said, Luffy," I was horrified that he knew my name. "I'm going to take you away. You don't belong here, with these _normal _people. You belong safe with me in my home, where I can protect you and... _educate _you. You see, Luffy, you're special." He leaned in close so that I could smell his rancid breath. I tried not to gag and dug my fingers into the chain links against which I was painfully cornered. I felt rust under my fingernails. "From now on, you belong only to _me."_

His words were echoing through my mind when all of a sudden, I heard familiar voices in the distance. My brothers were calling for me. They must have finally noticed that I had disappeared, because their voices were filled with slight concern. "Oi! Luffy! Where'd you go?" The man frowned and turned away from me to look out into the snowy field. He appeared to be slightly annoyed, and his hand fell from my cheek to reach into his pocket.

"It looks like time has run out, kid," he said without looking at me. Before I knew what was happening, he turned swiftly back to me and thrust his fist into my gut. I gasped at the initial pain, but then felt a jarring electrical shock race through my body, burning me from the inside out. I went limp and fell forward, into the waiting arms of the sinister man. He cradled me almost gently, and in my dimming sight I saw him flash me another of his eery grins.

The last thing I heard before I completely passed out were two voices, far away and muffled, but very familiar. They called my name, and I longed to answer, but tiredness overwhelmed me and I eventually succumbed to a deep darkness that I'd become too numb to fight.

I was afraid.

* * *

The first thing that I became aware of were the thick coils of twine binding my small arms behind my back, biting into the flesh of my wrist so that it became raw and bloody. I felt warm trickles sliding down into my palm and sticking there, causing my fingers cling to one another and making them difficult to move. I grunted in frustration. I attempted to lift my head up from the grimy concrete floor to look around, only to find that it was a million times heavier than I remembered and to have it come crashing down again.

I stifled a sob.

I had begun to shake slightly, tears of fear and confusion leaking from the corners of my eyes and landing with soft splashes in the filth. I recalled the man carrying me, his coat smelling like rust and something evil. I wondered where he was. From my spot on the floor, I could see a dark red brick wall just in front of me. It extended into a flat wooden ceiling, caked with dark stains and patches of unknown substances, and a single flickering bulb suspended by a wire provided the only light.

I heard a soft groan to my left. I managed to flip myself over so that I was on my other side, and what I saw surprised me. Beside me, also bound, was my brother, Sabo. Even in the low light of wherever it was we were, I could still scarcely make out the bright blond curls of his hair, which was a comfort to me. I watched as he grimaced and wriggled against his bindings, his eyes fluttering open as if from a deep sleep. I felt a small smile tug at my lips. Even if I didn't know where we were, Sabo was still Sabo, and I felt safer by just being near him and feeling his warmth.

Once his eyes had opened completely, they settled on my face and instantly grew wider. "Luffy!" He exclaimed, writhing like a worm on the floor in an attempt to free himself. I saw that his legs were also bound, and he grunted from the effort, sweat beading on his forehead. At last, he gave up and laid on his back, staring up at the ceiling. He turned his head to me and I saw that there was fear in his eyes as well. "Are you okay?" He asked, panting. "That guy didn't do anything to you, did he?"

I shook my head and inched myself closer to him. "Sabo," I choked out, my voice rusty from disuse. "What's going on? Why'd that guy take us? What does he want?... Sabo... I'm scared." My voice broke on the last sentence and tears threatened in my eyes.

"I know, Luffy, I know," said Sabo as comfortingly as possible. "But don't worry, your big brother's gonna figure out a way for us to escape. I promise." I felt my fears ease slightly as Sabo's words, but it didn't stop the harsh pounding of my heart in my chest.

I scooted as close to Sabo as possible, pressing my forehead into his chest because I was unable to hug him. His body was warm, and he let his chin rest on the top of my head. I smelled his familiar scent on his coat, and for a brief moment, imagined myself and him at home with Ace, Shanks, and Makino. They were probably freaking out right about now, calling Grandpa and the police to search for us. I could tell that we'd been gone a long time, even though there were no windows to confirm this thought, because my stomach growled loudly in a I-haven't-been-fed-in-a-while kind if way.

I briefly wondered if the man was going to feed us.

My thoughts turned to what was going to happen when he came for us. By the way he had handled me earlier, I knew that he wasn't a nice person, one to be feared and avoided in fact. The room in which he placed us was solid brick wall on all four sides, save for a metal door that lead out into what appeared to be a long hallway. The light bulb above us was the only source of light and flickered dangerously like it was about to go out. This unnerved me. I had seen way too many horror movies to not know a scary chamber when I saw one. But the thing that scared me about the room most of all was the smell. The air smelled of rust and chemicals, a very unsavory combination, and burned the inside of my nose slightly whenever I inhaled. I tried pressing my face into Sabo's jacket even more to block it out, but to no avail.

My brother was very quiet beside me, his body stiff against mine and his breathing shallow. Through his clothes, I could hear the quick thump of his heart throwing itself against his ribcage. It was beating almost as quickly as mine was. Normally, I would have laughed at Sabo for being scared, but at the moment, I too was feeling the same paralyzing fear, and so shut up. I closed my eyes and pretended we were back home with Ace, playing in the snow.

For a while, I almost managed to convince myself.

And then the door opened.

* * *

**Hey y'all! For those of you who read my other story, A Fate Worth Dying For, you'll be happy to know that another chapter of that is on the way. This is just something I felt I had to do to get rid of my writer's block, and it's working! This probably won't we as long as my other story, but I do plan to continue it because it's something I've had an idea for for a while now. Thanks! - Mikki**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Lost **

**Ace P.O.V**

My brothers were gone. It was as simple as that. One minute we were laughing and playing together in the snow outside school, and the next, Luffy was gone, and we couldn't find him. Sabo and I first noticed that our little brother was missing when his almost-constant stream of laughter ceased. He had only been standing a little ways away, close enough that we could still see him, and so it seemed strange to us that we hadn't realized until he had stopped making noise that he was no longer there.

I, who had been packing a particularly icy snowball to chuck at Sabo's face, looked up at the spot where Luffy had been standing moments ago and frowned. "Luffy?" I called, letting the unfinished snowball drop from my glove. "Where'd you go? Luffy?" I received no answer.

I wasn't worried, just perplexed. Luffy never ran off on us like that. He usually stuck to us like glue, bobbing along behind Sabo and I as we went and smiling his wide goofy smiles without a care in the world. I walked over to where I'd last seen him and looked around. It was difficult to make much out through the heavily falling snow, but I could still see the side of the school building to my right and the running track far in the distance. I frowned, putting my hands on my hips. By now, Sabo had figured that something was amiss. He trudged up behind me, his boots making loud crunching noised in the snow, and put a gloved hand on my shoulder.

"Ace?" He asked. "What's the matter? Why'd you suddenly stop playing?" I turned to face him and saw that his expression was confused and slightly annoyed. A prickle of unease ran up my spine.

"Luffy's gone." I said simply, my fist unconsciously clenching at my side.

"Gone?" Sabo said, raising an eyebrow. "What do you mean, 'gone?' He was just here a second ago."

"Yeah, but he's not now." I said impatiently. "He didn't say anything to either of us and I'm getting a bad feeling." I bit my lip and looked back over my shoulder, scanning the area for any signs of the straw-hat wearing boy. There was nothing.

"Calm down, Ace," Sabo said, taking a step back and crossing his arms. "I'm sure Luffy's fine. He probably just ran off to use the bathroom or something." He sighed when he saw the plain agitation on my face. "You're really overprotective, you know that?"

I knew Sabo was right, he was _always _right, but something still didn't sit well with me. If Luffy had just left to go to the bathroom, then he would have said something. He was always yelling and being loud, feeling the need to constantly clue us in on his existence and tell us about every single thing that happened to him every single day. In some ways, this was annoying. But in others, it was a comfort. It let me know that my little brother was always close to me, close enough for me to be able to protect him from anything that might want to hurt him. It made me fell safe.

Was I an overprotective big brother? Yes.

Did I tend to overreact to things when Luffy was involved? Yes.

But right then, with my stomach doing involuntary flips inside me, I truly felt like somewhere, my little brother needed my help. It was big brother's intuition. I looked at Sabo and saw that he too was beginning to show signs of worry. I guessed that it had been about ten minutes since either of us had last seen Luffy, which is plenty of time for one to leave to go to the bathroom and come back. Something was telling me he was in trouble.

"Let's find him." I said with conviction, clenching my fist even tighter. "It'll make me feel better, and I... I guess I just have a really bad feeling about him being gone so long." Sabo looked like he was going to say something, but then closed his mouth and nodded. I could tell that his big brother senses were kicking in, too.

"Alright," Sabo said. "We'll find him, and once we do, we'll kick the crap outta him for worrying us." He stepped forward slightly and stared at the freshly fallen snow at our feet. There were slight indentations where Luffy had once been standing, and footprints trailing all around that. At first glance, it looked like he had just walked away on his own, the tracks criss-crossing and making it difficult to tell which tracks were which. But on closer inspection, there appeared to be two larger footprints located behind Luffy's. "Look," said Sabo, crouching down. He pointed the large tracks out and I felt my blood run cold.

What if someone had taken Luffy?

Almost immediately I found myself screaming my little brother's name. I cupped my mouth in my hands and called out over the snowy landscape as loudly as I could. Sabo did the same, finally realizing that something was, in fact, _wrong,_ and that our brother could be in danger. We tried following the large footprints to where they led out of sight behind the school-building, only to find that they ended abruptly, covered by the quickly falling snow. I continued to call out Luffy's name, hoping that he could hear me wherever he was a call back, giving me something to go on. I took off my glove and ran my slightly frozen fingers through my tangled black hair in frustration. If someone had kidnapped Luffy... God, I didn't even want to think about it.

I'd grown up around a police household, my adoptive dad, Shanks, and my Grandpa, Garp, both being police officers. They'd pounded into me the basics of self-defense and what to do in an emergency situation, especially what to do in case of a kidnapping. They said to never go off with strangers, and to never talk or interact with anyone I or my brothers didn't know. To enforce this point, they told all three of us horror stories about what could happen to kids who got taken.

Fifty percent died within the first 24 hours of capture.

The thought of Luffy dying made me sick to my stomach. I felt bile in my throat, and bit back tears of panic as the terrible scenarios of Luffy's abduction played out in my head. Sabo grew more agitated as well. Together, we ran all over the snowy field, behind the schoolhouse, and even over to the track. We found nothing.

No Luffy.

We continued to search frantically until thirty minutes later when Makino pulled up in her car to get us.

* * *

To say that the woman was terrified would be an understatement. When Sabo and I ran over to her, both of us now in complete hysterics, our adoptive mom was on the phone with her husband and Garp so fast than that we didn't even have time to blink. The snow was falling more heavily now, making it almost impossible to see more than six feet in any direction, and so we huddled against the car, shaking from the cold or from fear or from both. Makino's hands trembled, and as soon as she had explained to the two men on her phone what the situation was, the device fell out of her hand and landed face down in a snowdrift. She fumbled to pick it up.

I don't know what possessed me to act, but I did. I walked over to Makino and wrapped my arms around her thin waist, burying my face in her overcoat and trying to hold back tears. Sabo did the same, and we found ourselves enveloped in a massive three-way hug that both warmed us, and frightened us even more. If Makino was scared, then something really had to be wrong.

After a while, Sabo spoke up. "I'm going to look for him." He said. He pulled away from the embrace and wiped his nose on his sleeve. "I'm going to go look for Luffy some more. You never know, he could still be around here somewhere." He turned to run away into the snow, but was stopped my Makino's suddenly firm hand on his shoulder.

"No," she said, her voice strong, yet shaky. "There's no way in hell I'm letting you go off alone. I just lost one son, I couldn't bear to-" her voice broke and a slim tear trailed it's way out form the corner of her eye. "I couldn't bear to... lose another one in the same day." Her words came out as a frightened whisper.

"She's right, Sabo," I said, grabbing onto my brother's sleeve and holding fast. "It's better to wait until Gramps and Shanks get here. As much as I hate it," I bit down on my lip so hard I tasted blood in my mouth. "As much as I _hate _it. We can't... we can't do anything right now. Luffy's out there somewhere, scared and alone, probably waiting for his big brothers to come along and save him like they always do, and there is NOTHING we can do to stop that!" I screamed the last words bitterly and let my gaze fall to my feet.

In front of me, Sabo trembled. "We can't just sit here and wait for things to be okay!" He cried, little flecks of spit flying from his mouth. "Our little brother could be dying right now, and you say there's nothing we can do?! That's bullshit! Even if it won't help anything, even if it makes things worse! I want to be able to say that I tried my best to find my brother! You should too, Ace! Why are you being such a coward when it really counts?!" The venom in his voice was like a slap in the face for me. I let my hand fall from his sleeve, and I just stared at him, my eyes wide and blank and filled with... nothing. He was right. He was always right. We shared a long, silent look, our eyes telling volumes when we ourselves said nothing.

At last, Sabo turned away from me. "If I don't find him, and he dies, I'll regret it forever." He said lowly. And with those words, he took off into the snow, shaking off Makin's hand roughly and bounding over the white hills into the blurred space I couldn't pierce no matter how hard I stared.

The last thing I saw of my brother was his back, disappearing into a white veil.

I tried to run after him, but Makino stopped me. I glared at her with such anger and resentment that it made her flinch. "Let me go!" I screamed. "I have to go, too! Luffy needs me! Sabo needs me!" When Makino didn't budge, I felt tears prick my eyes. "Please! They're my brothers, I have to help them!"

Makino simply bit her lip and shook her head. Her entire body was shaking, telling me that she, too, wished to run off in the direction that Sabo had gone and fetch him back, or even help him search for Luffy. But she knew, deep in her heart, that it wouldn't solve anything if four people suddenly went missing instead of two.

I bucked and thrashed until my arms were sore, and at last I fell to my knees in the snow. The police arrived thirty minutes after Sabo had gone.

I hated Makino.

* * *

Three hours went by and they found nothing.

Of either of my brothers.

They combed the entire area, but neither Luffy, nor to my horror, Sabo, could be found. Shanks and Gramps arrived and immediately embraced Makino and I, reassuring us that they would find our boys, no matter what it took. They were disturbed to hear that Sabo had disappeared as well, but quickly shook it off, keeping up their professional attitude and never letting their emotions slip, even for a second. I envied them. Inside, I was a wreck.

The two people I loved the most in the entire world were suddenly gone, and I could not follow. This was more terrifying to me than anything else I had ever felt. In less than six hours, my whole reality was shattered. One second, all of us were playing and laughing like we usually do, and the next, my little brother was snatched away by some maniac who was probably going to hurt him in some way or another. I felt my insides contract painfully. I had been told repeatedly by various officers who arrived on the scene that what happened wasn't my fault. Like hell it wasn't. I had let my guard down for only a second, and that was all it took for one of my most precious treasures to be taken away from me. And then later, another one.

I was lost.

I sat on the bumper of a cop car and hung my head in my hands, despair beginning to take root inside of me. When it began to get dark, I was told that Makino and I would be going home. We would have to be careful, the road was icy and the falling snow made it difficult to see, but really, I couldn't have cared less. Let the damn car careen into a ditch and explode, killing me with it. Then I might feel better.

Lying on top of my covers that night, feeling the lonely _emptiness _of the once happy house I was in, I did something that I hadn't done in years.

I cried. Hard. I opened up the floodgates of my soul and just _sobbed. _I cried for my brothers who were lost and afraid. I cried for myself who was too pathetic to even go after them when they left. But most of all, I cried out of fear. I was so afraid of losing them, of them actually _dying, _that the whole world froze, and I became almost completely unable to function. All I could do was lie there on my side and feel warm tears as they slid in a constant stream over the bridge of my nose, dripping and bleeding into the bedspread.

In many ways, I was more lost than either Sabo or Luffy. At least they had each other wherever they were. I, on the other hand, was alone.

So very, very, alone.

**Well damn, it's become a thing. Thanks to all of you who have checked this story out and left comments. I can't express enough to you how much they mean to me. Just hearing all of you thoughts and opinion of what I do really makes everything a little better. I plan to continue both of these stories and I will not hesitate to update on a regular basis. Until then, my lovelies! - Mikki**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Education**

The door opened and both Sabo and I froze, our hearts clenching painfully in our chests and our breath hitching. Heavy footsteps resounded through the room as the man came closer. They were slow and deliberate, like he was taking his time in frightening us, and each one made me jump slightly. At last, I knew he was hovering over us. The footsteps stopped and I pressed my face into Sabo's chest even further, trying desperately to block out the presence of the man who had kidnapped us.

"Hey, kiddies," the man said in a pseudo-friendly tone. "How do you like your new home thus far? It's pretty nice, isn't it? Lot's of space for you to run around, heavily fortified so that you're constantly protected, it's like a dream." He chuckled menacingly and then paused. I felt his black eyes sweep over our huddled form, shivers running down my spine. The room became so quiet that the only things I could hear were the quickened thump of Sabo's heart against my ear and the deep, heavy breathing of the man above us. There was a long, pregnant silence, each of us wondering what the other was going to do next. At last, I dared to glance up at the man with wide, frightened eyes.

The man looked exactly the same as the last time I had seen him. He wore a long black overcoat that stretched over his protruding belly and tight black gloves on his meaty hands. There was a large, slightly wild grin on his face, and his teeth were yellowed at the gums like a dog's. He was terrifying, and as I lay there quivering on the ground, I felt more helpless and afraid then I had ever felt in my life. It was almost like I was about to be attacked by some rabid beast, foaming at the mouth in anticipation of the kill.

I realized that he might kill us.

Suddenly, the man took a step forward, and the next thing I knew I was being wrenched away from Sabo by rough hands and tossed to the ground a little ways away. I grunted on impact and shifted my head so that the man was once again within my line of sight. He wore a displeased look now, hie eyes slightly withering in their gaze, causing me to shrink back.

"Luffy!" Cried Sabo, attempting to wiggle his way across the floor over to me. "Are you okay? Damn you, you bastard, that's my little brother you just hurt!" Sabo glared at the man with enough venom and hatred to kill a normal person. Secretly, I felt a rush of happiness that he cared so much about me, but I pushed it way in favor of fear and caution. The man stared down at Sabo coldly, like he was examining a piece of meat he didn't like the shape of. He raised his foot and brought it down with sickening force on my brother's exposed stomach, causing him to gasp loudly and cry out.

"Sabo!" I yelled. There was a seething pool of dread in the pit of my stomach, and with each passing moment it became bigger and bigger. Sabo coughed loudly, and large deposits of saliva and phlegm came flying out his mouth onto the floor. His eyes were wide and frightened, and I felt my heart clench.

I looked up and saw the man smirk evilly, his thin mustache trailing up the edge of his lip like a snake. "You little brat," he practically shouted. "Who the hell do you think you're talking to? The name's Teach, and in case you didn't get the message earlier, you now belong to me. Meaning that you have to pay me the proper respect or face the consequences." Slowly, Sabo's harsh breathing quieted to mild heaves, and he turned his head to meet the eyes of the newly christened "Teach."

"I... am not owned... by anyone..." he said between breaths. "Not by my... family... not by my... friends... and most... certainly... not... _you..._" His speech was strong and his eyes glowed with an untarnished pride that made me stare at him in awe. Sabo had always been the bravest person I'd ever met, other than Ace, but for him to have the courage to say things like that to the face of the man who held our very lives in his hands was still incredible. As I was now, there was no way I could have said anything like that without wetting my pants in fear. I smiled to myself, but at the same time cursed my own cowardice for restricting me in this situation. The man's eyes grew dark and he frowned deeply, like he was disgusted.

"I see," he said lowly, dangerously. "Well then, in that case..." Teach reached into his pocket and withdrew something black and slender. He pressed a button the side, and a long silver blade sprang up, glinting murderously in the low light. Seeing it made my mind go numb. I could only watch in horror as Teach raised his boot and planted it firmly on Sabo's middle, immobilizing him, and then proceed to wave the knife about in his face. Sabo's eyes widened and I saw him start to tremble. Teach let loose a dark laugh. "In that case... I guess I'll just have to _educate_ you in how to behave." He raised the blade slightly, and then brought in down in one swift movement so that the tip went straight into Sabo's cheek.

The boy let loose a horrifying screech, blood now pouring from the gash on his face and dripping onto the floor. Each crimson drop fell in what seemed to be slow-motion. Time stopped working, and I lay there completely frozen. I was afraid.

I was snapped out of my shock when I saw Teach raising his arm for another strike. Without thinking, I screamed. "STOP!" I cried, tears forming in my eyes and spilling down my face. "Please! Please don't hurt him! You can cut me instead, just please stopping hurting Sabo!" Tears choked my vision and the world became blurry, hot wetness forming under the cheek of mine that was pressed against the floor. I shook as Teach stood up, and slowly turned to meet my gaze. His face was blank for a moment, and then a wide, hideous grin split his mouth. He tilted his head back and laughed. It wasn't so much of a laugh as it was an animalistic cackle, and it made my insides turn to jelly.

"Well now!" Teach exclaimed, taking a few steps in my direction. I could hear Sabo sniffling lightly on the ground, and was alarmed to see that the pool of blood around him had gotten bigger. "Aren't you the courageous one? You're willing to take on your brother's punishment just so that he won't get hurt anymore, is that right?" He paused, and I nodded my head shakily. He could see the fear in me and I knew he was reveling in it. Teach laughed again and kneeled down next to me so that his face was inches from mine. "Fantastic. I just_ knew _you were a special one. From the moment I first saw you, I knew I _had _to have you, if for no other reason than to have your perfection all to myself." I tried to keep myself from puking on the stench of his breath, eyes watering and bile rising in my throat.

Then, without warning, the blade was hilt-deep in my shoulder. I instantly let loose a blood-curdling scream, one that resounded off the walls and hurt my ears. Teach laughed maniacally and withdrew the knife. Hot, sticky blood began to seep through my shirt, pooling on the ground and dying the light blue fabric almost completely red. I tried to look up at Teach, but my head was suddenly incredibly heavy. Tears and snot mixed with blood on the ground, making a filthy reddish mud combined with the dirt and grime already there. The pain was blinding, and I had to grit my teeth to keep from crying out again. It felt like my arm had been cut off.

Teach sneered and gazed almost lovingly at the blood-soaked knife in his hand. "How pretty," he said, turning his eyes back to me. "Both your blood and your screams are more beautiful than I could have possibly imagined." His face grew sinister. "I want more."

I had to grit my teeth to keep from crying out again. I vaguely heard Sabo screaming my name over and over again in the background, and I attempted ro turn my head to look at him, but the pain in my shoulder blocked out almost everything but the man kneeling directly in front of me. Teach grabbed a fistful of my hair with his free hand and lifted me up so that I was right in his face. "This is so fun. Where should I draw next, I wonder?" He said, raising the blade to his lips and running his tongue over the tip.

Sabo continued to scream, his voice rough and desperate.

I was absolutely paralyzed.

Even as he lifted the knife to my face, and carved a long, deep crescent below my left eye, I couldn't even speak. All I could do was hang there limply in his grip like some kind of disfigured rag-doll and take it. Teach noticed my lack of movement and proceeded to shove my face into the blood-soaked floor. He let his knife dance over my skin in long strokes, cutting up my shirt and leaving long crimson lines all over my body. The pain was unbelievable. Somewhere far away, I heard soft whimpers.

I briefly wondered whether the soft sounds were coming from me or from Sabo, but suddenly realized that I was too tired to care. Who knows how long the slashing went on, but eventually, I found that the pain had faded away into freezing numbness. I was aware of blood dripping down my face, and a prickling sensation in my shoulder, but other than that, nothing. My sight, too, blurred at the edges, and the world became muted around me as my consciousness began to fade. Tears still streamed from my eyes and splashed onto the ground, but now it was just a reflex, an action my body did to prove that I was still aware of what was going on.

Above me, Teach snorted. When he spoke, it was as though it was underwater, the words floating and then becoming lost, never reaching my ears. I could tell he sounded disappointed, and this sparked a fresh wave of fear in me. If I had had the energy, I would have trembled and curled into a ball, but as it was I completely unresponsive.

At least I had protected Sabo. That alone filled me with a small glimmer of pride and hope. Despite everything, my big brother was still alive and well, and this made me happy. I felt myself be turned over so that I was face down on the floor. There was a harsh ripping sound and I felt both my arms and my legs come loose and flop to my sides. It was a huge relief, and as I struggled to move the tips of my fingers for the first time in what must have been hours, I felt my body be raised up from the ground in a surprisingly gentle fashion. I was cradled in what could have only been Teach's arms, and at once I wanted to squirm away and hide. I hated this man. This man who hurt Sabo, who hurt me, and took us away from our family and into this dark hell.

I wondered if he was going to kill us. If he did, then I wanted to be killed before Sabo, so that I didn't have to watch him die. I wondered if it would be slow and painful, like my experience with the edge of Teach's knife, or quick and brutal, like a beheading. These were my thought as the metallic screech of the door reached my ears. I heard heavy footsteps as they resounded off the walls of the long hall I was being carried down, and slowly let my eyes fall shut. I was sure that I'd lost a lot of blood due to the cold feeling that spread throughout my body, and didn't fight the darkness as it overtook me.

I wanted Ace and Sabo.

I wanted them to be with me and to hold me and to tell me that everything was going to be fine.

I wanted their comforting lies in place of this harsh reality.

But I got nothing and so drifted of into snowy sleep with one final teardrop staining the tips of my eyelashes, never falling to the floor and keeping me company into the long, black night.

**Well, well, well, SHE LIVES! I'm so sorry for not updating sooner, I've just had a lot of shit to deal with lately and it's been eating up all my time! Along with this, there is also another chapter of A Fate Worth Dying For on the way, so look forward to that! Thanks to everyone who's like this story and thanks to everyone who's commented telling me what they think about it! PLEASE LEAVE REVIEWS! they make it easier to survive in this messed up fruitcake of a world. Thanks a ton! - Mikki**


	4. Chapter 4

**Alright! Just a little clarification. Ace: 10, Luffy: 7, Sabo: 10. Good? Good. Now, let it begin. **

**Chapter 4: Death**

Three weeks passed in a blur of colors and sounds. Each day that went by drained a little more of the life from me, and eventually I was left as nothing more than a walking shadow, the half-dead remains of the cheerful child I once was. My brothers had yet to be found. The police had searched and searched, combing the field where they were last seen like ticks on a dog, only to find absolutely no trace of either them or the person that took them. All evidence was destroyed by the snow, they said.

Shanks and the old man had looked harder than anybody, and even they found nothing.

I felt like curling up into a ball and simply fading away. To me, life just wasn't worth living without the constant presence and unconditional love that Luffy and Sabo provided . They were my treasure, my whole reason for existing. They gave me permission to feel happiness, sadness, and all emotions in between, without fear of being judged or rejected. Without them, I was lost. Most days, I holed myself up in my room and cried. I made sure I locked the door during these times so that no one could see. It was shameful, the once proud and fearless Portgas D. Ace reduced to nothing more than a sniveling child, and I couldn't stand to let anyone bear witness to my weakness.

I wanted my brothers back.

One day, there was a knock at my door, followed by a gruff voice telling me they'd like to talk. It was Gramps, and immediately my heart softened a fraction and I hopped off the bed to let him in. Luffy and Sabo's disappearance had been almost as hard on the old man as it had been on me. When I opened the door, I saw that he was still wearing his uniform, and that he had dark circles under his eyes from lack of sleep. He smiled tiredly down at me, and I returned it as best I could.

"Hey, boy," he said. "How're ya holding up?"

I stepped back to let him in. "I'm... well... you know... here," I said with a shrug. I walked over to the bed and sat down, the old man settling in beside me. He rested his arms on his thighs and sighed, a long exhausted sigh. "What about you? I can see you haven't been getting much sleep." The old man shook his head and ran his fingers through his hair. He had aged at least ten years since this whole ordeal began, and deep, heavy-set wrinkles had set in on his mouth and forehead that hadn't been there before. I was worried about him, which was new. I was worried that the loss of my brothers would be the thing that finally broke the old man.

I was worried that it would break me.

"Well, Ace," he said lowly. "I'm about as good as you, I suppose. This investigation is by far the hardest I've ever had to coordinate." He paused and let his head fall forward into his palm. "You should praise that father of yours, you know, for being so strong. Somehow, that Shanks has managed to keep himself sane, even with the lives of both our boys hanging by a thread."

I flinched and brought my knees up to my chest. Whenever someone mentioned the fact that there was no firm evidence that either Luffy or Sabo were still alive, I felt myself degrade a little. The thought that they were hurt and suffering somewhere sent shivers up my spine, and made me lose the tenuous amount of hope I still had left to the nightmares that tormented me whenever I allowed myself to sleep.

Both the old man and I were silent for a long time. It was a timid silence, one that threatened to break if either one of us breathed too loudly or shifted even an inch too far on the bedspread.

At last, the old man cleared his throat.

"Ace... I just came up here to tell you that, no matter what, we're going to find them." He looked at me and I saw steely resolve in his weathered gaze. "Hell or high water, one way or another, we're going to bring those boys home where they belong. I know it's not my place to make promises... but I just wanted you to know that you can trust us to find them, and that... it's okay to be scared."

I felt my lip tremble, and I buried my face in my arms to try and hide it. Garp saw, the old man always saw, and wrapped a strong arm around my shoulders, drawing me closer to him in a half-hug. For once, I didn't scream at him and tell him to get the hell off me. I leaned into the embrace and let it happen, actually grateful for the company. We sat like that for several minutes, simply drawing strength from one another and not saying anything.

"Thanks, old man," I murmured into my arms, almost too softly to hear.

The policeman rubbed tiny circles in my back but otherwise remained silent. I thought I heard him sniff, but passed it off as nothing. Garp was too strong for that, for tears and for crying and anything else that resembled what he called "weaker emotions."

I wiped my nose and looked up at him. His face was grim, but in his eyes there was something bright. It was the same thing that Makino's expression held every time she came to give me food.

Hope.

Just then, Gramps' phone rang, shattering the quiet atmosphere and making us both jump. He reached into his pocket and took it out, checking the caller-I.D. I saw that it was Shanks, probably with some update on the case. If he was calling while Garp was supposed to be off-duty, then it had to be important, which I wasn't sure I liked. The old man frowned and put the device up to his ear.

"Shanks?" He said gruffly. "What is it?"

There was silence on the other end, which caused my blood to freeze and bile to rise in my throat. My heart was beating so fast I thought that it was going to burst.

Shanks spoke. It was low and painful-sounding.

"... We found Sabo."

* * *

Everything hurt.

My arms, my legs, my stomach, my back.

There wasn't one spot on my body that wasn't in excruciating pain from the "education" I'd been receiving from Teach over the past few weeks. Cuts licked their way up the sides of my limbs in smiling crescents, and I had at least a dozen stab wounds on my shoulders and feet. I was surprised I hadn't bled to death by now, the only medical treatment given to me being some loose bandages wrapped lazily around the wounds and a couple of crushed painkillers. Maybe I wanted to bleed to death.

Teach was cruel, and this hell of his was slowly breaking me, both in body and in mind.

In the darkness of what he called "the bedroom", I whimpered, a lone tear sliding down my cheek and splashing onto the concrete floor. The room that Sabo and I shared was pitch black, no windows to let in light from the outside and no lamps to help us see in the dark. It terrified me. I heard my brother stir from his cot across from mine.

"Luffy...?" He said tiredly. I heard him shift positions under his scratchy wool blanket and wince sharply. Instantly I felt guilty. Ever since that first day, when Teach had carried me into this room down the hall and set me up on a bed to heal, Sabo had been forced to bear the brunt of the our combined torture. The man slashed Sabo's back with that long knife of his, driving nails into his hands and feet and later ripping them out after they'd had time heal into his flesh.

The screams kept me awake for days.

Teach absolutely _hated _Sabo, making a point to frown at him with particular venom every time he came in to fetch us for "education," which was anywhere from days to minutes apart. I wasn't sure why the man disliked my brother so much. It was almost like, to Teach, Sabo's very existence was a sin, one that he felt it was his duty to fix. It made me scared for my big brother.

"I'm fine," I whispered into the blackness. "It just hurts a little..." I bit my lip to keep another pained whimper inside. "Are you okay, Sabo?"

Both Sabo and I knew that he wasn't okay by a long shot, but that didn't stop the boy from chuckling lowly to quell my fears. "Me?" He whispered back, groaning as he moved to face me. "I'm just peachy. He hasn't burned us in awhile, so that's good."

I nodded, even though he couldn't see it. "Yeah," I whispered. "It hurt a lot last time. Ne, Sabo, how long do you think we've been down here?"

The boy was silent for a few moments before he spoke. "About two or three weeks, I'd say," he finally said. "It's kind of hard to tell with no windows. It could be the middle of the day outside and we wouldn't even know." He sounded bitter and I returned his sentiment. Teach had kept us in almost complete darkness for what must have been days now, only opening the metal door to our room to slip in trays of food and small cups of water. This wasn't anything new, it was the way he'd been treating us from the moment we were taken here, but it was still scary.

We didn't know when he would come back, or even if he would come back at all. If Teach had chosen to, he could have left us down here in the dark until we died of starvation. We hated it, but the fact was that Sabo and I were completely at his mercy, his murderous whims becoming our new reality.

I wondered how long it would be before he came for us next.

At the thought of Teach's face appearing in the doorway, knife glinting in the low light enticing us to come out, I began to violently shake. I was terrified of the man. He had hurt me, worse than I'd ever been hurt in my entire life, and even worse, he had hurt Sabo. The thing that made it so terrible was that I had no idea _why. _He had stolen us from our home, banished us from ever seeing daylight, and tortured us until our throats burned and we no longer had the energy to scream. But he never gave us a reason, only ever saying, "It's fun."

I felt tears gathering in my eyes and I tried my best to wipe them away. The last thing I wanted was for Sabo to notice and try to comfort me. He had enough to deal with on his own without my problems being piled on top, and so I resigned myself to bottling up all of my sorrow and never letting him see.

For once, I had to be the strong one.

I reached up by my head and grasped the top of my straw-hat, the one thing that Teach had let me keep. I hugged it tightly to my chest and closed my eyes. Some tears escaped, but they made no sound as they dripped down the bridge of my nose and into the fabric of my blanket. I thought about Ace. Knowing him, he was probably losing his mind worrying about us. Gramps, Makino, and Shanks, too.

I missed them, so much that it hurt. Down here, where there was nothing but pain and sorrow and _fear, _it was thoughts of my family that kept my brother and I from going insane. No matter how many times he stabbed us, no matter how many burns he seared into our flesh, we knew that Teach could never take away the love in our hearts for the people that cared about us.

It was our one comfort.

I wiped my nose and rolled over so that I was facing the wall. Jutting out from in between the bricks was a long, sharp nail, probably once used to hang something. Even though I couldn't see it, I knew exactly where it was. I had stabbed myself on it enough times already. Carefully, I reached out one of my fingers, slowly guiding to the space where I knew the nail was. I felt something sharp poke the soft flesh, and I smiled softly to myself. I pushed harder until pain shot up through my finger, and a tiny stream of blood began to pour from the tip.

It felt good. Like I was alive and not just some toy in Teach's demented game. Across from me, I heard Sabo groan. He began to toss in his cot and I heard the sharp intake of breath that I new signaled a nightmare. I felt my heartbeat quicken.

Without a word, I swung my legs over the side of my own cot and padded over to Sabo's side. It was forbidden for me to sleep in the same space as him, the last time we'd done so earning us two days of almost non-stop beatings, and so I simply stood by him, trying to make out his small form in the dark. Sabo's breath hitched and I knew that he was about to cry out.

I reached out and grasped his shoulder tightly, my fingers trembling because the whole situation was so very _wrong. _"Sabo," I whispered harshly. "Sabo, you're having a nightmare. Wake up. If you don't he's gonna come down here again and..." I bit my lip, invisible tears forming in my eyes. "Please," I begged. "Please wake up Sabo!"

Under my grip, my brother jolted. He sat up, gasping loudly as he did, and breathed heavily into the darkness. He was shaking badly, and I knew that he had been dreaming about one of _those _days, when the torture was so bad he couldn't move and I had to either carry or drag him back to the room.

"Luffy...?" He asked. "What's going on...? Are you okay?" I heard him turn to face me and wince. "Did he come back? Did he hurt you?" His voice was hurried and scared.

I shook my head, even though he couldn't see it. "I'm fine," I said quickly. "You just had another nightmare, that's all. I got scared that... he would hear and..." I felt Sabo's hand rest firmly on my head. He ruffled my hair and I could feel him smiling at me. One nice thing about living in total darkness was that you learned to feel things around you, rather than see them.

"Don't worry, Luffy," Sabo said, running his bandaged fingers through my greasy locks affectionately. "Everything is fine now. I promise. Just go back to sleep. He should feed us in a few hours and we can talk then, okay?"

I nodded. "Okay," I said.

I padded silently back to my cot and wrapped myself in the scratchy wool blanket. Even though it bothered my wounds and rubbed the skin of my outer arms painfully, it was still better than freezing to death in the meat locker-like conditions of the bedroom.

I closed my eyes and attempted to go back to sleep. I wasn't tired, but sleeping was better than lying in the darkness imagining all the terrible things Teach was going to do to us the next time he came in.

I eventually managed to drift into a waking slumber, one that shut my mind down enough to prevent coherent thought.

It was shattered when the door was thrown open.

* * *

Teach stood there in a swath of blinding light like some sort of benevolent being. My eyes burned at the sudden brightness, and I curled up against the wall with my face pressed into my arms, trying to block it out. I heard his growling laughter and chills ran down my spine.

"Rise and shine, kiddies," he said, stepping into the room. "It's a brand new day, and we wouldn't want to waste it, now would we?" I heard him make his way over to my bed, each step like a thunderclap, making me jump. "Good morning, Luffy," he said in an eerily gentle voice. "Did you sleep well? I hope so, I've got a lot of fun things planned for us today and I would hate for you to get tired halfway through." He chuckled menacingly and I buried my face even further into my arms, not even bothering to hide my trembling.

I was so scared I couldn't speak.

Before I knew what was happening, Teach lashed out and grabbed my arm, hauling me from my crouched position against the wall and throwing me to the ground. I stared up at him fearfully, and a wide, maniacal smile played on his lips, making me shrink back.

"Luffy!" Sabo cried. He scrambled up from his cot and moved over to me, grasping my shoulders and pulling me into a half-embrace. He glared at Teach. "You bastard! How dare you hurt my little brother!"

"No... Sabo..." I tried to say, weakly struggling in his arms. Being tossed to the floor had caused some of the cuts on my back to come open, and I felt hot trickles of blood oozing through my bandages and into my shirt. "I'm fine... you don't have to..."

Above us, Teach laughed cruelly. "How dare I?" He said in mock surprise. "How dare _you_? Defending a worthless little piece of shit like him, It's pathetic! I think it's high time I taught you boys some manners. You in particular, _Sabo._" He spat Sabo's name like it was something dirty, and it made me flinch.

I didn't want him to hurt Sabo anymore, and so I frantically pushed him away, not wanting to show any weakness or dependance in front of the older boy lest it get him punished like it had in the past. Teach saw this and grinned.

"Very protective now, aren't we?" He said dangerously. "You two would probably do anything for each other, am I right? Well, that seems to be the case from what I've seen." He crouched low so that his face was mere inches from ours. He looked at Sabo and a disgusted frown overtook his face. "I hate that. It makes me want to puke. But don't worry, I'll have this whole mess sorted out in due time."

With that, he raised his hand and smacked Sabo across the face, sending him sprawling. Before I had the chance to cry out, the man kicked me in the ribs, hard, making me cough up blood. Teach cackled. He strode over to Sabo's limp form and picked him up by the back of his shirt. He did the same to me, and together we were dragged across the filthy floor, down the long hallway to the metal door waiting at the end.

Teach kicked open the door and tossed the two of us inside, eliciting pained yelps from us both. I coughed and raised my head to look at him. His facial features were slightly darkened from the lack of light in the room, making him look even more ominous and evil. Looking around the room I had been in so many times over the past few weeks, I saw something new that hadn't been there before. In the corner, where there was usually a small wooden chair he liked to tie us to and beat us, was a tall metal barrel, the kind used for holding oil.

A long iron pole stuck out from the top of it, and it immediately gave me chills. Something wasn't right about this.

Teach stepped fully into the room, bolting the door behind me. "Well boys," he said dangerously. "I've got something very special planned for you both today. Especially for you, _Sabo._" He reached into his coat pocket and withdrew a long silver blade that we were both very familiar with. It glinted murderously in the flickering light-bulb light, surprisingly clean despite the caked on blood it usually sported. Just looking at it made me want to gag.

Beside me, I felt Sabo shiver. He feared Teach as much as I did, probably more so, and as the two of us gazed at the deadly blade that had inflicted so much pain on us, our hearts began to beat uncontrollably in our chests.

I raised myself into a sitting position and clutched my side where I'd been kicked, pain shooting through me courtesy of two freshly broken ribs. Teach smiled at this and advanced further. He sneered down at me and I knew that I was going to go first this time around. I grit my teeth and squeezed my eyes shut at the impending pain, but allowed a loud painful wince to escape me as the edge of the knife licked my shoulder.

Teach laughed, his rancid breath spilling over me like toxic gas. The sole of his boot made harsh contact with my chest and I gasped, fire shooting through my torso. He pinned me down against the cold floor and laughed, like crushing the life out of me was the most entertaining thing in the world. I bit back tears and stared up at him. His eyes were black as night and bored into me like drills, filled with the most intense glee I'd ever seen in a person.

When I started coughing up blood, Sabo screamed.

"Stop it!" He cried, hauling his shaking body over to me and wrapping both his tiny arms around Teach's fat leg on my chest. "Please... I'm begging you to stop! You could be killing him! He's Luffy, he's my little brother, don't take him away from me! Please!" I gaped as I saw large, frightened tears begin to roll down Sabo's cheeks and drip onto the floor. This was the first time Sabo had ever cried in front of Teach. Before, he had always been strong, never failing to meet the man's psychotic gaze even when he was terrified beyond reason. But now, he was crying and begging like the small child he was.

"Sabo..." I bit my lip until it bled, hating Teach with my entire being for pushing my strong older brother to this point. In my heart, I truly wanted to kill him. Teach glared down at Sabo with disgust.

"You want me to what?" He asked, his tone dangerous and his frown growing. "To stop? Well, this is a first, now isn't it _Sabo. _I've always hated you because of that goddamned arrogance and strength of yours, and yet here you are, crying and begging like the sniveling brat you are. I gotta say, it's nice. Very _fitting._" Teach kicked his leg and hit Sabo in the mouth, sending him flying towards the corner with the metal barrel.

"Sabo!" I cried, wheezing at the sudden release of pressure on my lungs. "Are you... okay?! Sabo!"

Teach chuckled darkly and stalked over to where Sabo lay, coughing and holding his jaw. I flopped onto my stomach and attempted to crawl towards him, only to be shoved back by a rough boot heel. My heart hammered. What was that bastard going to do to him?

Sabo stared up at Teach's hulking form with more fear in his eyes than I'd ever seen before. This made the man very happy, and he tilted his head back and let out a blood-curdling cackle. "Look at you, brat," he said excitedly. "Cowering in fear, just the way I like it. I was going to save this for later, but I think given the circumstances, now is as good a time as any-" he stepped over to the metal barrel and grasped the iron bar sticking out of it. "to give you and your brother your special _present._" He yanked the bar out of the barrel, and to my horror, the circular end of it was glowing white-hot.

It was a branding iron.

Sabo's eyes widened in recognition, and I saw him push himself away from Teach along the floor until his back met with the opposite wall. He was trapped. Above him, Teach brandished the iron like a sword. Even from that distance, I could still feel the searing heat rolling off the end in blistering waves. It was waiting to mark flesh.

I felt a scream building in my throat as I watched the scene unfold.

Sabo cowered against the wall, and Teach simply laughed and sneered down at him. My brother was prey, and the man was a beast, waiting to kill. "What's the matter?" He asked with mock concern. "You're not afraid of a little burn, now are you?" He cackled uncontrollably and waved the branding iron around madly.

He took a step forward.

And then another one.

He was inches away from Sabo.

I couldn't breath.

I wanted to scream my brother's name to the high heavens, for someone, _anyone, _to save him from that madman. The iron drew closer to the exposed part of Sabo's neckline, and my brother, paralyzed from fear, could only sit there and wait for it.

Then, the flaming metal connected with flesh, and my heart stopped beating. There was a sickening sizzling sound which rang through the air like the hiss of a wild beast. Followed closely by Sabo's ear-splitting scream. The boy howled in pain, his back arching against the wall and the smell of his burning flesh making vomit rise in my throat. Teach roared with laughter.

He kept the hot iron on the boy's flesh for a good thirty seconds, savoring his cries of agony and occasionally twisting it for some new angle of pain. Through it all, Sabo screamed.

Horrified tears streamed down my cheeks. All I could do was lie there and watch, my body not responding to any of my commands to get up and _save him. _After what felt like an eternity, Teach finally slid the iron of of Sabo's neckline, plopping the rod back into the barrel it came from. On my brother's flesh was an angry red circle, blistering and bleeding around the edges and appearing to go almost all the way to the bone.

It was a smily face.

A big, toothy smily face, burned right into the suffering boy's skin.

Teach turned to me.

"Awww, Luffy," he said with mock affection. "You look so sad, like the weight of the world's been dropped on your wittle shoulders. I know, I know, he looks like he's in a lot of pain, doesn't he? Perhaps it's time... I put him out of it for good." The blood in my veins turned to ice at Teach's words.

"No..." I whispered, finally finding my voice. "No, please..." Teach held up his knife. He place the side of the blade delicately against Sabo's throat.

Sabo turned his head and looked at me. His eyes were full of unimaginable pain as well as glossy tears. They slipped silently down his cheeks as he held out his hand to me. His gaze was begging, fearful. He didn't want to die. He was asking me to save him. His lips fought to move, but stumbled over each other and failed.

"No..." I whispered again. "Don't... please..."

Tiny crimson droplets formed around the edge of Teach's knife, like rubies glinting in the low-light.

Sabo whimpered. "Luffy..." he whispered painfully. "Luffy..."

"Sabo..." I said back, stretching out my hand as if I could reach him. "Don't..."

Teach's laugh echoed through the room. The blade slid further into my brother's neck.

"Bye bye, you little brat."

There was a ringing slice, and blood, and a silenced cry.

And then the world exploded.

**Holy shit that was dark. That was probably the darkest I've ever written. Ah well, the tag does say "horror" so you were warned. I feel really bad now, like I've just committed a murder. Anyways, please leave reviews telling me how I'm doing, and don't forget to check out my other stuff, like my new one-shot Our Boy Who Came Home. Thanks for reading! Until next time - Mikki**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: The New and the Old**

Sabo was dead.

Teach hauled his body away, leaving a long trail of bright crimson blood in his wake. I stopped breathing, seeing, hearing, smelling. The whole world went black, colored only by the sorrow and unbelievable _pain _that was welling up from deep within me. I couldn't even move to turn my head as my brother's limp form was dragged lifelessly out of sight.

The door slammed shut and I was alone.

So, _so _alone.

I was alone for a long, long time after that.

* * *

The crisp night air burned my sweaty skin as I walked down the street, the violent argument I'd just ran out on still ringing fresh in my mind.

_"You'll never get better at this rate, Zoro. You might as well give up." _

_"The hell I am, you bastard! Just you wait, I'll get stronger and stronger, and then even _you _won't be able to beat me!" _

_The man sighed like he was disappointed. "Return to your room. I've had enough of your nonsense for one night."_

_"Fuck you! You can't just write me off like this! I swear I'll make you regret it!" _

I shook my head, wiping a hand over my brow and frowning. Screw Mihawk. What the hell did he know? He was my father, and yet he hadn't even bothered to get to know me outside the dojo, never once coming to any of my school events, and even going so far as to barely talk to me when we were home together. It was like he didn't even think of me as his son. Not that I wanted that, hell it might even be _worse. _The thought of Mihawk actually acting like a father made me sick to my stomach.

I sighed deeply and leaned up against the outside wall of a house. I would never admit it, but the old man's words had hurt. Deeply. We had never been close, our relationship based solely upon our mutual love of swordplay, but still, we were supposed to be family. Weren't families meant to love and support each other no matter what? Or was that just a fairy-tale lie stolen from some cheesy novel?

I hit my head against the wall softly, staring up into the moonlit sky with misty eyes. Not for the first time, I thought about running away. I could take off into the night and never look back, leaving Mihawk and his stupid training behind forever. It wouldn't be so bad. One ten year old against the world. But then again, I was all Mihawk had left, and vice-versa. After my mother died, we were both a wreck. I liked to think that if something like that happened to me, he would feel the same.

I didn't hate, the man. Mostly, I felt sorry for him. He was completely consumed with his swordsmanship, losing sight of everything else important in the process, and so was beginning to forget me. I wasn't good enough for him anymore.

Swallowing my bitterness, I blew a cloud of smoke into the air in front of me. It lingered like a ghost and then dispersed, dissolving into the air and vaguely catching the moon's rays as it went. I rubbed my eyes. My anger was spent, and my muscles ached from training. Overall, it had just been a shit day.

Sighing deeply, I decided to head back to the house. It was late, well past midnight, and the bitter Autumn wind was slicing through my thin training clothes, making me shiver. Mihawk had probably retired to his room for the night, so he wouldn't notice me slipping in through the back door. I was hoping I wouldn't get too much of an earful for running off when we saw each other in the morning, but decided to prepare myself for the worst anyway.

I began to walk back in the direction of my house (or at least what I hoped was the direction), and as I did, I gazed up at the large moon smiling down at me. It cast its silver shadow over the earth in a thin blanket, illuminating my path and making the houses around me easier to see. Everything was silent, not even the nightly chirping of birds breaking the atmosphere, and it somewhat unnerved me. Even my footfalls were muffled against the sidewalk pavement.

Something wasn't right. It was never this quiet, even at night. There as always something, somewhere, that fed at least a tiny stream of noise into the outside world, making it feel alive and lived-in. But tonight, the silence was deafening. I quickened my pace, wanting to get home as soon as possible and so rid myself of this eerie feeling.

I was by no means scared, as far as anyone knew, Roronoa Zoro didn't get scared, but I wasn't stupid enough to take my chances on a strangely quiet street corner with no one else around.

I heard a scuffle behind me. It wasn't much, just the subtle scrape of rubber over concrete, but it was enough to set my heart hammering in my chest.

I once again picked up my speed, more jogging than walking now, and my breaths became quick and shallow. Another scrape sliced through the quiet. I gulped, ice seeping into my veins like needles.

Someone was there. I knew it. There was no way in hell I was turning around, and for once, curiosity didn't nag at me to confront the culprit, my instincts instead urging me to get home as quickly as possible. I started to run, but when I took the first step, I stumbled, my foot catching on a rock jutting out from the road. That was all it took.

At once, I felt a rough hand clamp down over my mouth, silencing a startled cry. An arm, thick like a tree branch, wrapped around my middle and halted my movements. A sinister laugh rang through the air.

"Well now, look what I found," a hideous voice whispered into my ear, spewing vile breath all over my face. "A lost little boy with no one to protect him. What to do?" My heart was beating a thousand times a second now, and real fear was coursing through me like icy fire. I couldn't move. It was like my limbs were paralyzed, none of them responding to my commands to shake off the man and run. Another dark chuckle. "I know, I'll take you home with me. That way I'll be able to _protect _you properly, eh, Zoro?"

He knew my name.

The fucker somehow knew who I was. This was terrifying, and all at once thoughts of my home and Mihawk filtered through my mind, and the blind hope that someone would come and save me burst from my heart. Before I could dwell on this, however, something blunt was shoved roughly into my side, and a violent electric shock raced through my body, causing me to jerk and twitch in the man's grip. The hand remained clamped firmly over my mouth, preventing me from screaming.

Just before I passed out, I felt tears slip down from my eyes and fall to the ground, something that hadn't happened in a very, very long time.

For not the first time, I wasn't sure what was going to happen to me.

But did I really want to know?

* * *

When I awoke, everything was unbearably dark. The only light in the room came from a small flickering candle that I could see melted to the floor directly in front of me. I blinked and looked around.

The room was small, like a basement, and had dark brick walls. The air was stale, and stank of unwashed bodies and... was that blood? I tried not to gag as I forced myself into a sitting position, bringing a hand up to nurse my aching head. My sight was still partially blurry, and for a second, I didn't remember anything of what had happened. But then it all came rushing back to me full-force.

The argument. The night. The man who smelled of death.

Terror surged through me and I frantically searched for an exit. What I found was a reinforced metal door that appeared to be padlocked from the _inside. _I was trying not to panic, but with every passing second, that was becoming more and more difficult. I bit my lip to keep the fearful tears inside of me.

I was NOT going to cry dammit.

As my sight became clearer, I realized that I was sitting on a small gray cot, the kind used in old military movies. There was a thick wool blanket folded off to the side, and small loose ropes tied to each of the four corners (whatever they were for). I took a deep breath and swung my legs over the side, attempting to calm myself down by sitting up straight. It wasn't working.

"Are you okay?" A tiny, ragged voice interrupted my thoughts. My head swiveled to the side so quickly that it made my neck hurt. On a cot positioned right along the wall next to mine was a boy. A very small boy swamped in a too large wool blanket. He was sitting criss-cross at the edge of his cot, closest to me, and looked like a human cocoon with his blanket draped around his shoulders. "Are you okay?" He said again, this time more insistently.

It took me a couple seconds to respond, and when I did, it was only with a slight nod. All at once the boy's thin, tight face sagged with what I took to be relief. A tiny smile graced his lips, and his deep, black eyes glinted with some foreign emotion I couldn't place.

"I'm so glad," he said. His words were slow and rough, like he hadn't spoken in a long time, and I noticed a small scar decorating the dirty skin under his left eye. "When Teach brought you in, I thought you were dead. You weren't moving at all."

I cleared my throat. "Who's Teach?" I asked slowly, though I already knew the answer.

The boy frowned, and raw _fear _flashed through his eyes. "_He's _Teach." He whispered. "And he's coming back soon, so be prepared. He won't go easy on you just because it's your first day."

"What the hell do you mean 'first day?'" I said, a little more loudly than I should have as evident by the boy's sudden flinch. "Who is he? And who are you? Where are we and what does that bastard want?" I was trying my best to keep all traces of fear from my voice, but judging by the boy's softened expression, I knew that I was failing miserably.

His face grew somber. "What does he want?" He whispered, almost to himself. "That... I don't know. He likes the screaming, I can tell. And he likes the blood. He must like you and me, otherwise we wouldn't be alive right now." The boy drew into himself more and I saw trembles surge through his body. "I don't know where we are. I've been here... a long time, and I still have no idea."

He squeezed his eyes shut, and suddenly I felt bad, like I was forcing him to remember something painful. A long silence stretched between us, me taking in what I'd just been told, and him shaking quietly underneath his blanket.

At last, I sighed. "What's your name?" I asked softly. The boy looked up at me with wide eyes. Then, a smile split his face. It didn't reach all the way to his pupils, but it was still a smile nonetheless. For me, who was scared out of my wits, it was an amazing feat.

"I'm Luffy," he said, scooting closer. "Monkey D. Luffy. And who're you?"

I paused, running a hand through my hair, which I noticed was coated with a thin film of dirt. "Roronoa Zoro," I said. "Nice to meet you, Luffy."

Luffy's eyes grew three sizes, and before I knew what was happening, fat tears had begun to drip down his cheeks and onto the cot. His lip quivered pathetically, and when I looked into his eyes, I saw something so _broken, _so unbelievable shattered, that it made my stony heart ache. For someone with such a young face, he looked like he had experienced a lifetime of suffering. I had never seen so much sadness and shadow in one person before.

He frantically scrubbed at his face, trying to halt the flow of tears. "S-sorry," he croaked. "I-it's just been a r-really long time since a-anyone's called me by my real n-name. It made me really happy."

I wasn't sure what I was supposed to say, whether I should scoop him up into a hug or let him fight his own demons right there in front of me. I ended up scooting closer to him and just sitting there, the sound of his broken sobs echoing off the walls. I could tell he took comfort in my presence, and something in me yearned to find the source of whatever had caused him such pain and beat it to a bloody pulp.

"I'm sorry." The whisper startled me, and I turned to see Luffy staring a me with large, puffy eyes.

"For what?" I asked, confused. Did he mean me getting taken? Or about him crying?

Luffy shuddered and let his gaze fall to his trembling hands.

"For what's about to happen."

I didn't have time to reflect on his words before the door swung open, and a pair of large hands grabbed me by the shirt and dragged me into hell. The man laughed.

**Wazzup y'all? I know it's been a long time since I updated, and for that I am SORRY! Wow. But, at least we've finally gotten to some of the good stuff, right? I hope you enjoy the chapter, and be SURE to leave reviews telling me what you think. A Fate Worth Dying For is next. I promise. Until then! - Mikki**


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